37 replies to this topic

[Dolph]

What ever happened to Nelson Piquet? I know he crashed driving an indycar and broke his legs, but what happened to him afterwards? Did he ever race again? And which team did he drive for in the US?

[Megatron]

Yes he did, he made the 1993 500. He drove for home improvement giant John Mernard.

[Vitesse2]

Piquet recovered from his 1992 injuries and qualified at Indy in 1993.
He later raced a BMW 318 in long-distance events in Europe, usually with Ingo Hoffman and Johnny Cecotto.
He's now overseeing the career of his son, already a kart champion in Brazil.

[Dolph]

Thanks guys:)

[david_martin]

He has also ran at Le Mans several times - in privateer McLaren F1s in 1995, 1996 and 1997 (shared with JJ Lehto in 1997 iirc), and with the Toyota works team in one of their GTP cars in 1998.

[Darren Galpin]

And the Fortaleza 6 Hrs sportscar race in Brazil last year.

[FEV]

He also is the owner of a race track in Brasil (Brasilia I think).
That's why we also saw him in the two BPR-GT races on a
Schnitzer mcLaren F1GTR-BMW (in 1995 ?). I believe he is deeply
involved in Motorsport organisation in Brasil and he even did a few
F3 races in Brasilia a few years ago to help promote this
Championship.

[Chico Landi]

Piquet's last race so far was in january, at the Brazilian Mil Milhas (in Interlagos). He drove a BMW prototype designed by himself, sharing the driving with F3000 Mario Haberfeld and his nephew Rodrigo Piquet. The car broke down after a few hours.

His son will start to race in the South American F3 by august. Piquet owns the team and some say the he might take part in some races with his own car.

And he's always in the media, saying that Barrichello isn't so great as people think in Brazil (which it's true, IMO, but his phrases always makes people mad!).

[John B]

For a follower of CART and F1, it was odd to see his race at Indy (with his former great rival Mansell in the same field) receive little attention. Imagine a multiple WDC like Schumacher or Hakkinen in a future Indy....

[CVAndrw]

Pre-qualifying, pre-accident 1992, none other than Bobby Unser cited Nelson's line through Turn One as the most classically perfect of ANY "rookie" he had ever seen.

Next year I thought demonstrated something of Nelson's often underrated personal courage and respect for racing tradition.

[Gary C]

I met Nelson briefly at Interlagos in 1999, and his legs were still playing him up. He was having a hard time coming down some stairs at the back of the pits, so they must have been REALLY badly injured in his Indy crash. Nice guy though!

[Dolph]

A nice guy? I have understood that he was an asshole at times. Particularly in 1986, '87 when he played some bad tricks on Mansell.(There was a foto of such recently in this forum)

[Gary C]

he's just being Nelson!

[Gary C]

in fact I used to know an exWilliams mechanic who absolutely LOVED Nelson and couldn't stand Mansell!

[Barry Boor]

Well, THERE'S a surprise!

[Buford]

must have been REALLY badly injured in his Indy crash.

Oh yes, totally destroyed much like Davy Hamilton currently. There is a photo that shows Piguet hitting the wall head on at over 200MPH. The front of the car, and thus his legs too, was crushed back nearly to the steering wheel and his head was thrown forward and almost hit the wall with his face, there was so little in front left. It was one of those deals where there was not a bone fragment left longer than an inch from the hips down. Complete mess of flesh and splintered bones.

This has happened to several drivers over the past 15 or 20 years. Dr. Terry Trammel in Indianapolis is a genius at putting them back together. He glues all the bone fragments back together and inserts metal rods, rebuilds nerves and muscles and blood vessles from other parts of the body, and how he makes the crushed ankles work again I don't know. He gets them walking again, along with their own hard work. But it obviously can never be the same. Piguet's injuries were devestating. That he can walk at all is a miracle.

[Chris Skepis]

Nelson was on TV last week doing an interview and he was only saying bad things about Nigel Mansell and extremely bad things about his ex wives. I think he hates them all.( wives and Nige).

[ghinzani]

Be interesting to hear what he says about Flav when Nelsihno gets his P45 then! That could be a great war of words!

[Hames Junt]

must have been REALLY badly injured in his Indy crash.

Oh yes, totally destroyed much like Davy Hamilton currently. There is a photo that shows Piguet hitting the wall head on at over 200MPH. The front of the car, and thus his legs too, was crushed back nearly to the steering wheel and his head was thrown forward and almost hit the wall with his face, there was so little in front left. It was one of those deals where there was not a bone fragment left longer than an inch from the hips down. Complete mess of flesh and splintered bones.

This has happened to several drivers over the past 15 or 20 years. Dr. Terry Trammel in Indianapolis is a genius at putting them back together. He glues all the bone fragments back together and inserts metal rods, rebuilds nerves and muscles and blood vessles from other parts of the body, and how he makes the crushed ankles work again I don't know. He gets them walking again, along with their own hard work. But it obviously can never be the same. Piguet's injuries were devestating. That he can walk at all is a miracle.

This one, very nasty....

[f1steveuk]

Some of the ex Brabham mechanics I've worked with had a sof spot for Nelson. Always 110% effort, wicked sense of humour, which sometimes bordered on "over the top". Used to quite enjoy peeing in the cockpit, and not telling anyone, and was quite upset when his collection of, er, nose deposits, were removed from the dashboard of his favourite BT49. I kid you not..........................

[COUGAR508]

I always thought that Nelson's achievement at Indy in 1993 was unfairly overlooked, after what happened to him the previous year.

[taran]

Nelson famously became the best paid driver in F1 in 1986 when he pocketed $3.6 million a year before losing that privilege to Alain Prost in 1988. But he really became wealthy after retiring from active racing. He started a company which provides satellite tracking for trucks and became wildly successful, making considerably more than his entire career earnings.

As to his character, Nelson was a highly charming individual with a penchant for practical jokes which are by their nature something of a hit or miss affair. His relationship with Mansell was rather contentious because they were very different characters. Mansell was a stodgy family man from a modest background while Nelson was an international playboy from a wealthy high class family. Mansell deliberately targeted Piquet to overcome his #2 status while Piquet felt cheated that Williams did not live up to his word when he promised Piquet #1 status in the team.

So there was a lot going on in the team during their time together. Just to put things in perspective, Williams made Piquet an offer for 1991 and Patrick Head admitted that they may have made a mistake in going with Mansell instead of Piquet in 1987/1988.

Edited by taran, 03 July 2009 - 09:17.

[Henri Greuter]

Pre-qualifying, pre-accident 1992, none other than Bobby Unser cited Nelson's line through Turn One as the most classically perfect of ANY "rookie" he had ever seen.

Next year I thought demonstrated something of Nelson's often underrated personal courage and respect for racing tradition.


COUGAR508 Posted Yesterday, 21:40
I always thought that Nelson's achievement at Indy in 1993 was unfairly overlooked, after what happened to him the previous year.

Piquet's `fortune`: Mansellmania on a hype at Indy just after Phoenix when Mansell had "kissed the wall'...
(and it was a hype that year, I've seen it)

And the bad luck for the Buick powered drivers that somehow, the 1993 Lola-Buick was not as fast compeared with its opponents as the 1992 cars had been compared with their opponents. From what I've understood, it had to deal with narrowing the turns that year. 1992 was the best ever chance for Buick to win the race

Other then that. Piquet truly turned me off that year for once and for all when he said hello to Mansell and then suggested him to reservate a room in Methodist Hospital in advance.
Never liked his so called sense for so called humor anyway but this....
Kudos and respect for the bravado to return one year after that horrible accident. But other then that .....

Henri

[brabhamBT19]

Some of the ex Brabham mechanics I've worked with had a sof spot for Nelson. Always 110% effort, wicked sense of humour, which sometimes bordered on "over the top". Used to quite enjoy peeing in the cockpit, and not telling anyone, and was quite upset when his collection of, er, nose deposits, were removed from the dashboard of his favourite BT49. I kid you not..........................

If this is true than Nelson is my favourite driver of all times.

[f1steveuk]

If this is true than Nelson is my favourite driver of all times.

His engineer Nigel De Strayter told me of both............................

[RA Historian]

I agree that Nelson always had a wicked sense of humor. He especially enjoyed winding Nigel up, and with Mansell he found such an easy target for his pranks. For Piquet and his ways, Mansell must have been a God send!

Tom

[giacomo]

Niki Lauda described Piquet as a fatalist. In one of their conversations Piquet revealed that he expects to die in a race car, that he accepts this, and that his mother knows about this.

Those ideas were very alien to Lauda.

[f1steveuk]

Niki Lauda described Piquet as a fatalist. In one of their conversations Piquet revealed that he expects to die in a race car, that he accepts this, and that his mother knows about this.

Those ideas were very alien to Lauda.

I recall when Piquet was testing the BT52 at Brands Hatch, a circuit not really suited to the incredibly powerful turbo cars. He was asked about his thoughts about running the car at the circuit. "It's ok" he said "but they should have a sniper on the outside of some of the bends, because if you loose it, you'd want to be put out of your misery before you hit anything".

[alansart]

I recall when Piquet was testing the BT52 at Brands Hatch, a circuit not really suited to the incredibly powerful turbo cars. He was asked about his thoughts about running the car at the circuit. "It's ok" he said "but they should have a sniper on the outside of some of the bends, because if you loose it, you'd want to be put out of your misery before you hit anything".

A similar comment came from I think a Williams driver regarding Paddock. "Crikey if I go off there I'll end up in bloody Maidstone!"

Edited by alansart, 03 July 2009 - 16:18.

[garoidb]

Happy 60th birthday to Nelson Piquet.

[Ralliart]

Niki Lauda described Piquet as a fatalist. In one of their conversations Piquet revealed that he expects to die in a race car, that he accepts this, and that his mother knows about this.

Those ideas were very alien to Lauda.

Not so. Lauda recounted in one of his books that when he and Hunt first started hanging out - pre F1 days - they acknowledged that they probably wouldn't survive the course and, that being the case, were going to live to the hilt. It is true that Lauda was surprised to hear Piquet explain to him that he expected to die in a race car but Lauda has written that once he decided to become a racing driver, he knew what he was in for. Possibly, it was the resignation that Piquet expressed that surprised Lauda, that it came from his friend Piquet or that, at that point in his life, survival was uppermost in Lauda's mind. As far as Piquet's recovery from his Indy accident, whether or not it was done under Trammel's direction, one of the methods used in his recovery was the Ilizarov (sp?) leg stretching where the leg(s) are stretched like a millimeter a day. The great high jumper Valeriy Brumel underwent this method after an accident in 1965. Piquet was able to drive again and Brumel was able to high jump again, reaching 2.12 (compared to his WR of 2.28) but one leg remained shorter than the other.

[kayemod]

As far as Piquet's recovery from his Indy accident, whether or not it was done under Trammel's direction, one of the methods used in his recovery was the Ilizarov (sp?) leg stretching where the leg(s) are stretched like a millimeter a day. The great high jumper Valeriy Brumel underwent this method after an accident in 1965. Piquet was able to drive again and Brumel was able to high jump again, reaching 2.12 (compared to his WR of 2.28) but one leg remained shorter than the other.

This leg-stretching process is not without risk. Many years ago I was very lucky to survive a near-fatal accident that shattered both my legs and left one shorter than the other. I saw a TV programme about David Purley who endured the same process after his own massive Silverstone crash, and mentioned this to my orthopaedic consultant, who'd also seen the programme, he knew the surgeon who'd performed it, and had seen all the notes. He told me that DP was conscious of not being very tall, and didn't want to be even shorter, albeit only on one side, so rather unkindly I thought, he described it as a "vanity op". He also told me that the procedure carried a very significant risk of losing the leg altogether, I forget the figure he quoted, but I think it was something like 20%. He said he'd perform it on me if I wanted to take the risk, and he also offered the alternative of removing a section from my good, or at least better leg to even things up. I decided that a lifelong slight limp and a built-up shoe would be a better option as far as I was concerned, I've never regretted that decision, but then I'm not a racing driver.

[garoidb]

This leg-stretching process is not without risk. Many years ago I was very lucky to survive a near-fatal accident that shattered both my legs and left one shorter than the other. I saw a TV programme about David Purley who endured the same process after his own massive Silverstone crash, and mentioned this to my orthopaedic consultant, who'd also seen the programme, he knew the surgeon who'd performed it, and had seen all the notes. He told me that DP was conscious of not being very tall, and didn't want to be even shorter, albeit only on one side, so rather unkindly I thought, he described it as a "vanity op". He also told me that the procedure carried a very significant risk of losing the leg altogether, I forget the figure he quoted, but I think it was something like 20%. He said he'd perform it on me if I wanted to take the risk, and he also offered the alternative of removing a section from my good, or at least better leg to even things up. I decided that a lifelong slight limp and a built-up shoe would be a better option as far as I was concerned, I've never regretted that decision, but then I'm not a racing driver.

That's interesting. The thing is, I doubt that there were such good alternatives for Piquet. It is good to see that he has been able to lead a fairly normal life (pain notwithstanding).

[Ralliart]

I went into my notes to find this: In '67, the high jumper Brumel went to Dr. Gavril Ilizarov. Ilizarov utilized a stretching machine that shifted the tibia 3/4 of a mm each day. The process was called new bone formation or distraction osteogenis. It's my understanding that, 26 years later, Piquet underwent the Ilizarov treatment.

[kayemod]

I went into my notes to find this: In '67, the high jumper Brumel went to Dr. Gavril Ilizarov. Ilizarov utilized a stretching machine that shifted the tibia 3/4 of a mm each day. The process was called new bone formation or distraction osteogenis. It's my understanding that, 26 years later, Piquet underwent the Ilizarov treatment.

That's probably all true, but in my case and David Purley's, part of the problem was a shattered and foreshortened femur, the thigh bone. The pain and dis-function in later life is impossible to predict, no idea about Nelson, but I know that Barry Sheene and Johnny Herbert suffered quite a lot from the after-effects of major leg injuries. My injuries were comparable to those two, at one time doctors feared that I'd lose both legs and an arm, but I've been very fortunate, and have made a good recovery. I have slightly restricted movement but suffer little pain, thirty years ago a surgeon told me that by now I'd be on my third or fourth replacement hip, but I'm still using the original one. All doctors are pessimists, probably to cover themselves, but they just don't know, every recovery is up to the individual, and all are different. I've often wondered if sportsmen make things worse by trying to rush the recovery process, these things take time, and by trying to force the process, maybe it makes things more difficult in the long run. Anyone know what state Nelson is in these days?

[LittleChris]

Anyone know what state Nelson is in these days?

Not poverty stricken, that's for sure

[D-Type]

If anyone is interested in what an Ilizarov frame is they should visit this website.

My daughter who is now in her late 20s had to wear one for 6 months when she was about seven to deal with a bone condition she was born with. It wasn't pleasant for her but it worked (to an extent).

Edited by D-Type, 19 August 2012 - 19:53.

[SPBHM]

less than a year ago he was having some fun with the BT49